Somewhere in her body, an entire marriage was destabilizing, yet her fingers still knew how to protect a child’s foot. “Did you see Daddy’s work friend here last Saturday?” Rachel asked. Sophie nodded. David stepped toward them.
“Rachel. She looked at him once.” “Do not.” The two words stopped him.
Sophie continued, because children answer questions until adults teach them not to. “She came after dinner,” she said. “Daddy said she was helping with work.” Rachel’s chest tightened.
“What was her name?” Sophie thought hard. “Miss Natalie.” Rachel closed her eyes for one second. Natalie Reed. Of course.
The name itself did not arrive as a complete revelation. It arrived as a key sliding into a lock Rachel had not known existed. Natalie was a senior account manager at the consulting firm where David had worked for nearly eight years. Rachel had met her twice at company holiday parties and once at a summer cookout.
Natalie was thirty-six, single, polished, funny, and one of those people who made everyone around her feel as if they were participating in a private joke. Rachel had liked her. That detail hurt immediately. Rachel stood slowly.
“Sophie, I want you to go upstairs and change into your pajamas, okay?” “But I’m playing dress-up.” “I know, baby.”
We’ll talk about that later. Go put your pajamas on and leave the dress on your bed. Sophie’s face fell. “Am I in trouble?” The question struck Rachel hard enough to make her throat ache. “No,” she said immediately.
“You are not in trouble at all.” David finally found his voice. “Nobody said she was.” Rachel looked at him. He stopped again. Sophie padded upstairs in one sock and one bare foot, the satin dragging behind her, still carrying the second heel.
Rachel listened until the sound of the dress brushing the steps disappeared. Then she turned off the iron. The click was quiet. “What happened last Saturday?” she asked. David held both hands out in front of him, palms low, the posture of a man trying to calm an animal that had not yet decided whether to bolt or bite.
“Natalie came by because we had to review a presentation for the Halpern account.” Rachel said nothing. “She stayed later than expected.” Rachel said nothing.
“We had wine.” There it was. Not the confession.